In football has become a very frequent to say that we have a few champions and for this reason our teams have difficulty becoming competitive at international level. The coaches say that we have a few football talents and that is the problem. Usually the definition of talent is based on the technical skills of the players and their athletic skills, while the coaches pay less attention to their psychological skills. This result in that we probably have only a young champion, El Shaarawy and many others that are definitely good, but that do not emerge for continuity of play and the ability to make a difference in a team. I think we should take more account of the mental development of players and their ability to adapt to different forms of play of the teams in our premiere league. If this is not done, the risk is to have good players but showing adjustment difficulties in the transition from one team to another or play against opponents who have different systems to play. In addition, the high expectations of these players and their societies may represent a further obstacle to their success. Needless to say that mental training programs could be useful to them to carry out this profession with success.
Monthly Archive for January, 2013
Page 3 of 4
Read the interview at Antonio Campriani, Italian talent who went some years ago in the U.S. to graduate in engineering because in Italy was impossible to study continuing to do sport at high level. He won the gold medal in shooting in London.
http://www.repubblica.it/sport/2013/01/11/news/intervista_campriani-50296554/
A question that students of motor and sport sciences often ask me, is about the importance of subjectivity, that is, the relevance of the beliefs of athletes. They are accustomed to believe that what can not be measured with some scientific instrument is not true. When they speak of fatigue, for example, think that listening to the athlete is not useful because objectively the exercises he is doing cannot have tired him. Of course, this student mindset is affected by the enormous influence that the medicine and physiology studies have on their academic training. Following this approach they give relevance to the technical proposal of the coaching sessions, underestimating the importance of knowing ow to manage the relationship with the athletes. For them it is enough to carry out a proper training in terms of workload or methodological progression but are less geared to handle the emotions and provide specific guidance on how to approach a task in a concentrated way.
The board which decides what the players have to enter in the baseball Hall of Fame has denied the entry of some of the most successful players in the history of this sport for their documented problems with doping (Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens). Among these was also found Mike Piazza, who hit 396 home runs as a catcher, more than any other player at the role, for doubt that his performances have been influenced by the use of steroids, despite he has never been officially involved in matters of doping. But this vote indicates a suspicion about the origin of his record. Some judges have voted in favor of Bonds and Clemens because they believe that these players would get their records even if they had not made use of doping, while they believe that Piazza would never have succeeded if he had not been helped with anything.
Doping has been said, that stacks the match, is bad for health and propose a model of successful athlete that can destroy the lives of many teenagers.
I recommend also reading another article that shows how the Hall of Fame baseball is also composed of alcoholics, cheaters, drug addicts, racists, certainly not positive figures despite their sporting success.
What happened last Sunday at Juventus, and that is to lose a game being up of onegoal, against a weaker opponent playing in 10 can be explained if one takes into consideration the characteristics that determine the will to compete to win. There are three factors that constitute it:
- desire to succeed – is the will to give the best of themselves as a team
- probability to succeed – assessment team to the probability towin
- incentive value of success – evaluation of the importance to win
I think the team has been lacking in the first and the second point. Players have thought it would be very likely to win, especially in the condition that superiority had reached for score (1 to 0) and their opponents in 10. In this way the players have reduced the motivation to do their best. Translated in the words of Conte, the coach, it means not being cocky and “want to go back to having dig the earth.”
The champions commit few mistakes and yet often they have a very negative impact on the outcome of the match. It’s ‘the case of the two errors committed by Buffon, Juventus goalkeeper, giving rise to two goals with which the Sampdoria won the game. These errors affect us much more than those committed by other players less talented. Also because the goalkeeping errors, compared to other roles, more easily leads to goal in favor of the opponents. I liked the statements of Buffon when he said that he commits some mistakes during the season and that this is the normal. Second important statement, it was to say that a team is strong if it can react to these negative events immediately providing a winning match. These words confirm a famous phrase that “no matter how many times you fall but how quickly you get up.” For young athletes, it is important to take inspiration from the experience of champions such as Buffon, to understand that all wrong but that the difference between the good players and the other is in the error response, to cry on or lean the blame to other fellows do not need and rather it is harmful.
The knowledge of what is the best mentality with which to start the match is a crucial input for each coach and the team. It’s important to know that the players need to be confident and combative and this is what constitutes a winning mentality. But there is one factor that is less talked about, and that supports this kind of mentality, is to know to what result you get into the field. Based on these ideas I want to analyze the results of the first half of the Italian football championship.
| Totale | In casa | Fuori casa | |||||||||||||||||
| Squadre | Punti | G | V | N | P | F | S | G | V | N | P | F | S | G | V | N | P | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Juventus | 44 | 19 | 14 | 2 | 3 | 40 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 20 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 20 | 6 |
| Lazio | 39 | 19 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 28 | 19 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 10 |
| Napoli ** | 37 | 19 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 37 | 18 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 11 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 7 |
| Fiorentina | 35 | 19 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 36 | 21 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 13 |
| Inter | 35 | 19 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 30 | 22 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 16 | 10 |
| Roma | 32 | 19 | 10 | 2 | 7 | 43 | 33 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 23 | 14 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 20 | 19 |
| Milan | 30 | 19 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 36 | 27 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 16 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 20 | 18 |
| Parma | 29 | 19 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 27 | 25 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 7 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 18 |
| Udinese | 27 | 19 | 6 | 9 | 4 | 29 | 26 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 16 | 11 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 13 | 15 |
| Catania | 26 | 19 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 26 | 27 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 17 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 18 |
| Chievo | 24 | 19 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 21 | 29 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 20 |
| Atalanta ** | 22 | 19 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 18 | 28 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 16 |
| Pescara | 20 | 19 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 17 | 35 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 17 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 18 |
| Sampdoria * | 20 | 19 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 22 | 28 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 14 | 18 |
| Torino * | 20 | 19 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 20 | 22 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 10 |
| Bologna | 18 | 19 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 21 | 26 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 15 |
| Genoa | 17 | 19 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 14 | 19 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 11 |
| Cagliari | 16 | 19 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 17 | 35 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 14 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 21 |
| Palermo | 15 | 19 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 29 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 17 |
| Siena ****** | 11 | 19 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 17 | 28 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 16 |
The first teams in the ranking – Who wants to win the championship must play to win every game. In fact, it is better to win two games and losing one (6 points) rather than to win a match and stack it two (5 points). Between Lazio and Fiorentina there are four points, despite having lost the same number of matches. But Fiorentina have made 2 draws in more than Lazio. Inter have the same points of Fiorentina despite having lost two games more, because it won one more game and has 3 draw less. So who’s at the top shows its winning mentality playing to win every game, because draw provides no advantage. Juventus is in the lead because it has won more games and has matched less than the others.
The latest teams ranked – Who does not want to move back to Serie B instead should stack it about half (about 9), losing about 60% of the others and win the rest. The best example in this league is Torino: drew 9 games, lost 6 and won 4. Who has lost more than half of the games is forced to cut ties and compensate with a greater number of victories. For the latest teams ranked winning mentality means therefore get 50% of draws and 20% of wins. (Siena is the last one because has started the season by -6 points, Torino and Sampdoria had -1 point, Atalanta -2 points)).
An image that does not need comments: the return of Tito Vilanova (Barcelona’s coach) after the period of illness and the embrace with Eric Abidal who has struggled and continues to struggle with the same disease.
